Peligro, I’m definitely on the same page as you. Those of us who loved Ministry because they tread a delicate balance between being aggressive/heavy and also innovative/experimental are totally dissappointed by their new material.
Once upon a time Al had an experimental edge to him, but now he’s content to shit out standard heavy metal fodder that could fit right in on Headbanger’s Ball. Paul was the only band member still bringing anything intellectual, innovative and challenging to what has basically become a rock band at this point, but he’s gone.
Al can still make challenging, complex music when he tries (“WTV” and possibly “Worm”) but the rest of HOTM was dime-a-dozen hard rock.
Before, Ministry was a hybrid electronic act experimenting with rock aesthetics and producing interesting things in the process. And isn’t that what the music we call “industrial rock” is really all about?
Skinny Puppy is the same way…they experimented with rock aesthetics, but it always sounded bizarre because their roots were electronic.
Think of classics like “You Know What You Are”, “Stigmata”, “Thieves” etc. These are so ingenious because they approach a rock sound, but do so using electronic elements.
Wolf Eyes is another prime example of this technique, as their compositions are a mess of bizarre electronic, but somehow there is a powerful feel to it, something like heavy metal or hard rock that makes it so damn interesting.
But now Ministry have become a full-fledged rock act, and to some of us it seems low-brow or primitive. A whole lot of screaming and mindless aggression with heavy riffing, but none of the electronic wierdness and experimentalism that distinguished the group from mindless shit like Lamb of God.
I appreciate the fact that Jourgensen has done something to prevent the release from being a TOTAL rehash, but I have to agree that it is still pathetically half-assed. Adding a few touches here and there seems pointless compared to the vast possibilities he could have explored with remixes.
A new intro to “Jesus Built My Hotrod”? So Gibby Haynes is going to say something different but then the song will be exactly the same? Why did Al even bother?!?
MORE GW Bush samples added to songs that were perfectly fine without them?!! I miss a time when Ministry could be subtle in their political references. Now it’s like Al’s in bed with Michael Moore!!!
We miss the challenging intellectual experimental industrial act known as Ministry, who could create songs like “Land of Rape and Honey” that were as subsersive and creative musically as they were lyrically, not the aging “rock act” that is on Fuck George Bush compilations with a bunch of gay punk rockers and other outspoken yet politically unaware morons. What good is any opinion without an intelligent argument behind it? Not that his lyrics should be essays on foreign policy, but we want something a bit more mature than this punk rocker bullshit.
Does all this mean I hate Ministry? Fuck no! They are one of my favorite groups, if not my favorite! Hearing “Lava” while on psilocybin mushrooms gave me a sense of invincibility, of raw power and utter evil that was so damn powerful it was like an artistic awakening. I could hear myself in the music, someone who at times is filled with such self-loathing that it just turns into this hot mess of boiling lava. (By the way there is a reason that those same psilocybin mushrooms are depicted in the Filth Pig jewel case)
But my love for Ministry is what compels me to criticize and analyze their work. And I’m sure this is the same with Peligro. Criticism is merely a form of analyzing the work of an artist. And as Al’s work becomes more and more low-brow masterbatory heavy metal riffing to get the tatooed teens all riled up, the more we will criticize it.
